Comments on: Is Bible Really All Time Best Seller?

By: Chris Nissley

Chris Nissley — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 18:38:03 +0000

I have to admit that I have no real way of verifying that the Bible is an “all time best seller,” but can we be realistic about this “test.” First, Jesus does not catch many peoples attention in and of itself now days. If we just turn on the TV His name will be said many times just as a cuss word. Second, I would be interested in finding out what you have to say in your God Wants You Dead, so I might buy it. I own many Bibles (Some I paid almost $100 dollars for) so just one more does not necessarily catch my attention. Not all translations hold as true to the manuscripts as others, so I don’t just go out there and buy all and any “Bible”. Third, How many people that bought your book (God Wants You Dead) have a Bible that they bought in their home or office? Just thought I would throw in another way of looking at it.

By: A. Friend

A. Friend — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:44:56 +0000

Both “God Wants You Dead” and “Jesus - The New Testament” have been posted on the Legal Torrents website:

http://beta.legaltorrents.com/books

So you can take this experiment into the world of file sharing.

By: Sean Hastings

Sean Hastings — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:18:13 +0000

I have received several comments on this post, saying that when people call The Bible the “All time Best Seller” they are only referring to the “fact” that the Bible has been printed more times than any other book - not that it is currently a best seller. I disagree in a couple of ways.

When people use the phrase “All time Best Seller” to describe the Bible, it is in contrast to the concept of a book that makes a “Best Seller” list today. The implication is that it is a better book than anything on modern best seller lists, not just that it has sold more copies in the past. (Or that the later somehow proves the former.)

To make the claim that the bible has been printed more than any other book, one need not use the modern term “Best Seller.” There is no reason to use this phrase if one is not trying to compare biblical content to that of modern books. But since today’s best sellers were not available a thousand years ago, considering historical “sales” certainly isn’t a fair basis of content comparison.

Who knows? Maybe Harry Potter would have done much better historically than the Bible, if it had been published at the same time.

Additionally, the Bible might still make best seller lists today if we combined the figures for all versions and all printings by various publishers. But even if we decide that it is fair to count all versions of a book as being the same book, the Christian Bible still does not deserve the title. All historical Jewish, Christian and Muslim Holy texts include some version of the original Jewish Torah. The bible preserves it as the “old testament” and the Quar’an contains it as the “Tawart.” So if we are counting all versions of a book printed, each Bible printed must also count as a Torah, as must each Qur’an, and (of course) each Torah.

So the original Book of Judaism has a much greater claim to the title of “All Time Best Seller” than does the Book of Christianity.

(Although, I personally think the New Testament is a much better book; superior plot line, better character arcs, and the overall theme is a lot more appealing.)